ArticleBJPsych open2020
Risk of depression in family caregivers: unintended consequence of COVID-19.
Article in BJPsych open, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 60 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
60 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Mental health impacts experienced by caregivers of people with Dravet syndrome: A systematic literature review.Epilepsia · 2026Pooled it
- Open Online Courses for Informal Carers: Systematic Integrative Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Pooled it
- Informal Caregiving, Loneliness and Social Isolation: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Loneliness before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review with meta-analysis.The American psychologistPooled it
- Exploring Prolonged Grief Experiences of Ethnoracial Minoritized Caregivers: An Emic Perspective.Research in nursing & health · 2026Article
- Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic: the relationship between fear of COVID-19 and type of work.Industrial health · 2026Article
- A quantitative study of social identity, social support and perceived stress in online support groups for family caregivers.Journal of health psychology · 2026Article
- Risk factors for loneliness among older informal caregivers in regions of Finland and Sweden: a longitudinal study.Scandinavian journal of public health · 2026Article
- A longitudinal study of psychological distress during and after COVID-19 restrictions in caregivers of children with intellectual disability in the UK.JCPP advances · 2025Article
- The longitudinal impacts of secondary caregiver networks on primary caregiver's social isolation and depression.Innovation in aging · 2025Article
- Quality of life of family caregivers of stroke patients: A systematic review of qualitative research.Pakistan journal of medical sciences · 2025Review
- A scoping review to examine health care professionals' experiences as family caregivers.PloS one · 2025Article
- Assessing the quality of life of schizophrenia patients and their family caregivers in a Romanian sample: the role of clinical, sociocultural, and demographic factors.Medicine and pharmacy reports · 2025Article
- Substance use and help seeking as coping behaviors among parents and unpaid caregivers of adults in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic.The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse · 2024Article
- Experiences of family caregivers of nurses infected with COVID-19: a qualitative study.BMC nursing · 2024Article
- Emotional Regulation, Coping, and Resilience in Informal Caregivers: A Network Analysis Approach.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Challenges and coping strategies when caring for terminally ill persons with cancer: perspectives of family caregivers.BMC palliative care · 2024Article
- Caring by default: experiences of caregivers of children with developmental disabilities in Ghana mirrored in the context of the stress process model.BMC nursing · 2024Article
- Social Identity and Online Support Groups: A Qualitative Study with Family Caregivers.International journal of behavioral medicine · 2024Article
- The Determinants of COVID-19-Related Stress Among Caregivers of Individuals at High Risk During the Pandemic.Cureus · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundCoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is likely to exacerbate the symptoms of poor mental health in family caregivers.
aimsTo investigate whether rates of depressive symptomatology increased in caregivers during COVID-19 and whether the unintended consequences of health protective measures, i.e., social isolation, exacerbated this risk. Another aim was to see if caregivers accessed any online/phone psychological support during COVID.
methodData (1349 caregivers; 6178 non-caregivers) was extracted from Understanding Society, a UK population-level data-set. The General Health Questionnaire cut-off scores identified those who are likely to have depression.
resultsAfter adjustment for confounding caregivers had a higher risk of having depressive symptoms compared with non-caregivers, odds ratio (OR) = 1.22 (95% CI 1.05-1.40, P = 0.008) evidenced by higher levels of depression pre-COVID-19 (16.7% caregivers v. 12.1% non-caregivers) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (21.6% caregivers v. 17.9% non-caregivers), respectively. Further, higher levels of loneliness increased the risk of depression symptoms almost four-fold in caregivers, OR = 3.85 (95% 95% CI 3.08-4.85, P < 0.001), whereas accessing therapy attenuated the risk of depression (43%). A total of 60% of caregivers with depression symptoms reported not accessing any therapeutic support (for example online or face to face) during the COVID-19 pandemic.
conclusionsCOVID-19 has had a negative impact on family caregivers' mental health with loneliness a significant contributor to depressive symptomatology. However, despite these detriments in mental health, the majority of caregivers do not access any online or phone psychiatric support. Finally, psychiatric services and healthcare professionals should aim to focus on reducing feelings of loneliness to support at-risk caregivers.
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